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Guardians Designate Three Players For Assignment

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The Guardians added four players to their 40-man roster before tonight’s Rule 5 deadline: pitchers Franco Aleman, Nic Enright, and Doug Nikhazy and outfielder Petey Halpin. To open 40-man spots, Cleveland designated former top outfield prospect George Valera and relievers Peter Strzelecki and Connor Gillispie for assignment.

The most notable piece of news here is the club opting to part ways with Valera. The 24-year-old is just a couple of years removed from being a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport but has been plagued by injuries over the past two years. Valera underwent offseason hand surgery prior to the 2023 season and ultimately did not make his season debut until May of that year, ultimately playing just 11 games prior to June 17 of that year due to additional injury woes. Overall, he hit just .211/.343/.375 despite an excellent 16% walk rate last year.

Things improved in his age-23 season with the Guardians this year on offense, as he hit .248/.337/.452 with 17 home runs, a major step in right direction after slugging just ten the year prior. Unfortunately, Valera was once again limited by injury and played just 90 games in 2024 before going under the knife again back in September. That surgery came with a six-to-nine month recovery timetable, which left him poised to start 2025 on the injured list and likely not be available as a potential big league contributor until the second half of next year at the earliest.

Given the former top prospect’s injury woes and relatively modest production at Triple-A, the Guardians evidently decided to cut him from the 40-man roster. Now, Valera will be available for any interested club to claim off waivers. If he manages to clear waivers, the Guardians will have the opportunity to outright him to the minor leagues and retain him in the organization for 2025. Importantly, Valera does not have minor league options remaining so any acquiring club would either need to carry him on their active roster or sneak him through waivers themselves later in the offseason.

As for Strzelecki, the 30-year-old right-hander has appeared in the majors in each of the past three seasons but only arrived in Cleveland back in March. Prior to this year, Strzelecki made his big league debut for the Brewers back in 2022 and pitched quite well with a 2.83 ERA and 2.94 FIP in 35 innings of work. The right-hander suffered a down year in 2023, however, as he pitched to a 4.54 ERA in 35 2/3 frames for Milwaukee before being swapped to the Diamondbacks at the 2023 trade deadline in exchange for southpaw Andrew Chafin. Strzelecki made just one appearance in a Dbacks uniform last year where he threw 1 1/3 scoreless frames.

The righty was squeezed off of Arizona’s 40-man roster in the run-up to Opening Day this year in order to make room for the addition of Tucker Barnhart, and the Guardians pounced on the opportunity to bring him into the fold. He served as an up-and-down reliever for Cleveland this year and pitched quite well in a limited sample with a 2.31 ERA and 3.77 FIP in 11 2/3 innings of work, though that wasn’t enough to earn a more permanent spot in a loaded Guardians bullpen. With Strzelecki set to enter 2025 without any option years remaining, the Guardians opted to part ways with the right-hander, who could garner interest from rival clubs on the waiver wire now that he’s available.

Gillispie, meanwhile, made his big league debut with the Guardians just this year. He pitched to a 2.25 ERA in eight innings of work in the majors to go along with a rather pedestrian 4.05 ERA in 27 appearances (15 starts) at Triple-A. The 27-year-old will enter the 2025 campaign with options remaining, which could make him particularly attractive to a pitching-needy club as an optionable young arm with the ability to pitch both in the rotation and out of the bullpen.

As for the quartet of prospects, each will be protected from the Rule 5 Draft next month now that they’re on the 40-man roster. Aleman, 24, turned in a dominant season in relief at the Triple-A level with a 1.99 ERA and a 36.6% strikeout rate in 24 appearances. The 27-year-old Enright was picked in the Rule 5 draft one before by the Marlins but was eventually returned to the Guardians. A two-way player for much of his career, the right-hander turned to pitching full-time in 2024 and looked quite good in a small sample as he posted a 1.06 ERA in 17 innings of work with an incredible 49.2% strikeout rate. Nikhazy, a 25-year-old lefty, split 2024 between the Double- and Triple-A rotations and posted solid numbers with a 2.98 ERA and 25.4% strikeout rate in 123 2/3 innings of work, potentially putting him on the radar for big league starts in 2025. Halpin is the lone position player the Guardians protected, and the club’s third-round pick in the 2020 draft and slashed .233/.314/.399 in 90 games at Triple-A this year.

Tigers Designate Three Players For Assignment

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The Tigers designated infielder Eddys Leonard and relievers Ricky Vanasco and Brendan White for assignment. Their spots on the 40-man roster will go to righties Chase Lee, Tyler Mattison and Tyler Owens. Detroit kept that trio out of next month’s Rule 5 draft.

Leonard has held a spot on Detroit’s 40-man roster since they acquired him in a minor trade with the Dodgers in August 2023. The 24-year-old infielder hit .253/.320/.435 between three minor league levels this year. He hasn’t appeared in the majors. Vanasco also landed in Detroit via a small trade with Los Angeles — this one coming this past July. He pitched two scoreless innings at the major league level and has four career appearances. White, who turned 26 yesterday, pitched to a 5.03 ERA across 40 2/3 innings as a rookie in 2023. He spent most of this season on the minor league injured list.

The three players joining the roster are all upper level bullpen arms. Lee, an Alabama product, came over from the Rangers at this year’s deadline in the Andrew Chafin trade. The 26-year-old righty turned in a 2.75 ERA across 36 innings between the two organizations. He punched out 30% of batters faced with a tidy 6.8% walk rate.

Mattison, a 6’4″ pitcher out of Bryant, posted excellent strikeout numbers this year. He fanned nearly 38% of hitters en route to a 2.41 ERA across 59 2/3 innings between High-A West Michigan and Double-A Erie. While the 25-year-old was a bit more advanced than most hitters he faced, he pitched well enough that another team could’ve tried to stash him in the middle innings.

Owens, 24 in January, has been traded twice since entering pro ball as a 13th-round pick in 2021. Originally an Atlanta draftee, he went to the Rangers last offseason for outfielder J.P. Martínez. Texas dealt him to Detroit as part of the Carson Kelly deadline deal. The 5’10” hurler put up a 2.96 ERA while striking out just over a quarter of opponents in Double-A this year.

Angels Designate Jordyn Adams, Eric Wagaman For Assignment

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The Angels made a couple changes to their 40-man roster on Tuesday. Los Angeles designated outfielder Jordyn Adams and infielder Eric Wagaman for assignment. That opens a pair of 40-man roster spots for infielder Matthew Lugo and left-hander Jack Dashwood, both of whom are now ineligible for next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

Adams, 25, is perhaps the most well-known of the group. He was the 17th overall pick in the 2018 draft. The Halos bet on his speed and power potential, but the bat hasn’t progressed as hoped. Adams has a middling .252/.333/.377 batting line over six minor league seasons. That includes a .261/.333/.386 showing across 549 Triple-A plate appearances this year. That’s well below-average production in the Pacific Coast League. Adams has appeared in 28 big league games over the last two seasons, hitting .176 with a near-36% strikeout rate in sporadic playing time.

Wagaman had a nice season in the upper minors. Selected out of the Yankees organization in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft, he hit .274/.339/.469 between Double-A and Triple-A. That earned Wagaman, an Orange County native, a cup of coffee with the Halos. He hit a pair of homers with a .250/.270/.403 slash in 18 games. As a 27-year-old rookie who has never had much prospect fanfare, he had an uphill battle to holding his 40-man roster spot all winter.

Lugo, 23, is a former second-round pick of the Red Sox. He went unselected in last year’s Rule 5 before a breakout showing in the minors. The Puerto Rico native hit .287/.376/.578 with 17 homers in 79 games between the top two minor league levels. He’s one of four players the Angels acquired in the deadline deal sending veteran reliever Luis García to the Sox. Two others, Niko Kavadas and Ryan Zeferjahn, already made their MLB debuts late last season. Lugo could join them in Anaheim next year.

Dashwood, who turned 27 this week, was a 12th-round pick out of UC Santa Barbara in 2019. The 6’6″ southpaw spent most of this season on the minor league injured list. He ran a 15:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 10 innings at the Double-A level and punched out 17 batters in 10 frames during the Arizona Fall League. The Halos were concerned that another team would skip him past Triple-A and jump him to the majors, so they’ll give him a roster spot. He’ll probably open next year in the Triple-A bullpen.

Mets Acquire Jose Siri

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The Mets and Rays announced a one-for-one trade sending outfielder Jose Siri to New York for reliever Eric Orze. Both players were on their teams’ 40-man roster, so the trade doesn’t have any impact on tonight’s Rule 5 protection deadline.

Siri, 29, spent two and a half seasons in Tampa Bay. The Rays acquired him from the Astros in a three-team trade at the 2022 deadline. Siri has been Kevin Cash’s primary center fielder going back to the start of the ’23 season. He connected on 25 home runs in only 364 plate appearances that year. While the power was enough to make Siri a productive player, he hit .222 with a .267 on-base percentage.

Those already poor marks fell even further in 2024. Siri hit .187/.255/.366 in a career-high 448 plate appearances. He popped another 18 homers but ranked last in OBP among the 207 hitters with at least 400 trips to the plate. Only Mitch Garver had a lower batting average. Since the start of the ’23 season, Siri owns a .203/.260/.424 batting line.

An extreme free swinger, Siri has issues making contact against pitches both within and outside the zone. He went down on strikes at a massive 37.9% rate this year and has fanned in nearly 36% of his career plate appearances. Siri strikes out far too often to be a consistently effective hitter, but he has 20+ homer potential at the bottom of a lineup.

More importantly, Siri has elite athleticism that makes him one of the best defensive players in baseball. He’s a top-of-the-scale runner with elite arm strength. Siri has posted excellent numbers for his glovework in center field. Defensive Runs Saved credited him as 12 runs above average in a little over 1000 innings this past season. Statcast was even more bullish, rating him 15 runs above par. By measure of Statcast’s Outs Above Average, Siri was tied for second with Cardinals rookie Michael Siani among outfielders in defensive value. Only Washington’s Jacob Young narrowly surpassed him. Brenton Doyle and Daulton Varsho are the only outfielders with more Outs Above Average since the start of 2023.

Siri probably slots behind Tyrone Taylor on New York’s center field depth chart. Both players are right-handed hitters, so they don’t make for a natural platoon. Taylor has much better contact skills than Siri brings to the table. He’s coming off a solid .248/.299/.401 showing in his first year as a Met.

There are clear parallels between Siri and Harrison Bader, to whom the Mets gave 437 plate appearances this year. They’re each fantastic defensive outfielders with some power but subpar on-base skills. Bader is again a free agent after playing on a $10.5MM deal. Siri is much more affordable. He’s in his first of three arbitration seasons and is projected for a $2.3MM salary (courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz). If the Mets again find themselves in the top tier of luxury tax penalization, they’ll pay roughly $2.53MM in taxes on top of that salary. They control him through the 2027 campaign.

While Siri remained affordable, the Rays were evidently prepared to move on because of his lackluster offense. Their only other player who got an extended look in center field this year was Jonny DeLuca. Acquired from the Dodgers in the Tyler Glasnow trade, DeLuca hit just .217/.278/.331 in his first extended MLB look. He’s nearly as fast as Siri and could be a plus defensive center fielder in his own right, but he doesn’t bring much offensive juice.

While Dylan Carlson once looked like a potential everyday center fielder in St. Louis, his bat has never developed as hoped. Josh Lowe is probably better suited in a corner, though he could theoretically move back to center if the Rays add another bat or want to play Christopher Morel and Richie Palacios in the corner outfield on a regular basis.

As they look to sort out center field, the Rays add to their bullpen depth. Orze, 27, was a fifth-round pick in the shortened 2020 draft. His only big league experience consists of two games for the Mets in July. He was blown up in that limited look, surrendering four runs in 1 2/3 innings.

The 6’4″ righty had a solid year at Triple-A Syracuse. He tossed 61 2/3 innings of 2.92 ERA ball, striking out nearly a third of opponents behind an excellent 15.4% swinging strike rate. Orze walked more than 12% of batters faced and has struggled with his command throughout his pro career. That could relegate him to a middle relief role. Orze uses his changeup as his primary pitch and sits in the 93-94 MPH range with his fastball. He barely has any major league service and can be optioned for another two seasons, so he’ll likely bounce between Tampa Bay and Triple-A Durham on multiple occasions over the next couple years.

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com first reported the terms of the trade. Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

12 Players Decline Qualifying Offers

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Twelve of the 13 qualified free agents have declined the QO, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The exception was Nick Martinez, who accepted the $21.05MM offer from the Reds over the weekend.

The players who rejected the offer:

There wasn’t much intrigue by the time this afternoon’s deadline officially rolled around. Martinez, Pivetta and perhaps Severino were the only players who seemed like they’d consider the QO. All three made their decisions fairly early in the 15-day window that they had to weigh the offer.

All 12 players who declined the QO have a case for at least a three-year contract. Soto is looking at the biggest deal (in terms of net present value) in MLB history. Burnes, Fried, Adames, Bregman, Alonso and potentially Santander could land nine figures. Severino, Manaea, Hernández and Pivetta look like they’ll land three- or four-year deals. Walker could get to three years as well, though it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if his age limits him to a two-year pact at a high average annual value.

A team that signs these players will take a hit to its draft stock and potentially its bonus pool slot for international amateurs. The penalties vary depending on the team’s revenue sharing status and whether they exceeded the luxury tax threshold in 2024. MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk covered the forfeitures for every team last month. A team would not forfeit a pick to re-sign its own qualified free agent, though it would lose the right to collect any kind of compensation.

If these players walk, their former teams will receive an extra draft pick. The Brewers, Orioles and Diamondbacks are in line for the highest compensation as revenue sharing recipients. If their players sign elsewhere for at least $50MM (a virtual lock in the cases of Burnes, Santander and Adames), the compensation pick would fall after the first round of next year’s draft. If the player signs for less than $50MM — which could be the case if Walker is limited to two years — the compensation pick would land before the start of the third round (roughly 70th overall).

The Red Sox neither received revenue sharing nor paid the competitive balance tax. They’ll get a pick before the third round if Pivetta walks regardless of the value of his contract. The Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Braves and Astros all paid the tax in 2024. They’ll get a pick after the fourth round if any of their players depart — potentially three picks, in the Mets’ case. The prospects selected by that point — usually around 130th overall — tend not to be highly touted, but each extra selection could carry a slot value north of $500K to devote to next year’s draft bonus pool.

Cubs Expected To Designate Adbert Alzolay For Assignment

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The Cubs are likely to designate former closer Adbert Alzolay for assignment, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN (X link). That’ll open a spot on the 40-man roster as Chicago keeps prospects out of the Rule 5 draft. Alzolay underwent Tommy John surgery in August and is going to miss most or all of next season.

A DFA would’ve been tough to fathom just a few months ago. After an inconsistent run as a starter, the righty moved to the bullpen for good in 2023. He eventually pitched his way into the ninth inning, picking up 22 saves and six holds while only blowing three leads. Alzolay turned in 64 innings of 2.67 ERA ball with a 26.5% strikeout rate. A late-season forearm strain was the only red flag in an otherwise excellent year.

Unfortunately, the forearm issue proved a precursor to a disastrous ’24 season. Alzolay started the season horribly, allowing 13 runs (nine earned) over 17 1/3 innings. He blew five saves while locking down just four games and quickly lost the closing job. Alzolay’s walks jumped while his strikeout rate dropped by nearly 10 percentage points. The Cubs put him on the injured list with another forearm strain diagnosis in the middle of May.

It seems that’ll mark the end of his Chicago tenure, which began when he signed out of Venezuela at age 18. Alzolay tried to avoid surgery and went on a minor league rehab stint in July. He had a setback in Triple-A and went under the knife a month later. A typical 14-month recovery timeline would cost him the entire ’25 season. That wouldn’t be a roster issue for the Cubs during the season, as they could place him on the 60-day injured list between the opening of Spring Training and the end of the World Series. Without an IL during the winter, Alzolay would’ve counted against their offseason roster for each of the next two years even though he may not pitch until 2026.

That’s evidently not something they’re willing to do for what could amount to one more year of Alzolay. He has between four and five years of MLB service and would collect service time if he spent all of next season on the injured list. Alzolay is on track for free agency during the 2026-27 offseason.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects the 29-year-old for a modest $2.3MM salary if he’s tendered an arbitration contract. He’d be in line for a matching salary in ’26 if he misses all of next season. A combined sum in the $5MM range would be a bargain if Alzolay recaptures his best form in 2026. There’s no guarantee that’ll be the case, of course, and it seems the Cubs don’t want to carry him on the roster long enough to take that chance.

There are a few ways this situation could play out. Perhaps the Cubs can find a trade partner who is willing to send them a marginal prospect to buy low on a potential high-leverage arm. If they don’t line up a trade, Chicago could put Alzolay on waivers within the next few days. They wouldn’t get anything in return if he’s claimed, but it’d give other clubs an opportunity to retain him on that projected arbitration salary. As a player with at least three years of service time, he’d become a free agent if he went unclaimed.

The Cubs could also simply cut Alzolay loose by declining to tender him a contract at Friday’s non-tender deadline. That’d send him directly to free agency without putting him on waivers. It’s the only time of year in which teams can drop players from the 40-man roster without waiving them. Teams frequently try to re-sign players to minor league deals after a non-tender, but Alzolay and his representatives would be able to look for a major league opportunity elsewhere. In any case, it looks as if he’ll be headed to a new team after spending more than a decade in the Cubs organization.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Astros To Select Colton Gordon

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The Astros are adding left-hander Colton Gordon to their 40-man roster, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). The 6’4″ southpaw would otherwise have been eligible for next month’s Rule 5 draft. Houston has one additional opening on the 40-man roster, so it’s possible they’ll make another move before tonight’s deadline to keep players out of the Rule 5.

Gordon was an eighth-round pick in 2021. The Central Florida product has found success as a starter in the minors. He owns a 3.74 ERA in a little more than 300 professional innings. Gordon managed a 3.94 mark across 123 1/3 frames with Triple-A Sugar Land this year. He struck out a solid 23.8% of opponents while issuing walks at a respectable 7.5% clip.

Prospect evaluators have never graded Gordon especially highly. Baseball America has ranked him in the back half of their top 30 prospects in a thin Astros’ system for the last two years. Gordon doesn’t throw hard and had a middling 9.7% swinging strike rate in Triple-A. That limits his ceiling, but starting pitchers with upper minors success are often plucked away in the Rule 5 draft. The Astros ensure that won’t happen with Gordon, who could make his big league debut as a spot starter or long reliever next season.

Giants Hire Bobby Evans, Jeff Berry In Advisory Roles

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The Giants are hiring Bobby Evans and Jeff Berry as advisors to first-year president of baseball operations Buster Posey, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (X link). They each have ties to the franchise icon. Evans was San Francisco’s general manager for a portion of Posey’s playing career, while Berry was the catcher’s longtime agent at CAA Sports.

As one would imagine, Evans has significantly more front office experience of today’s hires. He started working for San Francisco in the 1990s. Evans worked his way up the ladder amidst the Giants’ run of three World Series in five years early in the 2010s. San Francisco promoted him to general manager in April 2015, though he still served as something of the #2 decision maker behind executive vice president Brian Sabean. The Giants reassigned Evans near the end of the ’18 season, a precursor to their hiring of Farhan Zaidi the following offseason.

Evans hasn’t found himself in a ton of headlines over the past six years, though he reportedly interviewed for the Astros’ GM job on two occasions (in 2020 and ’23) and sat down with the Angels before they hired Perry Minasian in November ’20. He was floated as a candidate for the GM job in San Francisco this offseason, a position which would’ve put him only behind Posey in the front office hierarchy. The Giants went with Zack Minasian for that job, but Posey evidently values Evans’ input enough to bring him aboard in an advisory role.

Berry worked at CAA for more than two decades, becoming one of baseball’s most high-profile agents in the process. The 54-year-old stepped away from that job at the beginning of the 2024 season. (Berry spoke with Evan Drellich of the Athletic about that decision in June.) He’ll provide a bit of a different perspective as he moves to the other side of the aisle. It’s rare but not unheard of for agents to take team positions — most notably with Berry’s former CAA colleague Brodie Van Wagenen working as Mets’ general manager between 2018-20.

Dodgers, Joe Jacques Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Dodgers reached agreement with reliever Joe Jacques on a minor league contract, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (X link). The Gaeta Sports Management client receives an invite to big league Spring Training.

Jacques elected minor league free agency a few weeks ago. He’d been squeezed off the Diamondbacks’ roster midseason. Arizona designated him for assignment when they acquired A.J. Puk a week before the trade deadline. Jacques cleared waivers and spent the rest of the season on an outright assignment to Triple-A Reno.

A 6’4″ lefty, Jacques has pitched in the majors in each of the past two seasons. He made 23 appearances for the Red Sox in 2023, turning in 26 2/3 innings of 5.06 ERA ball. Jacques only pitched twice in the majors this year — once apiece for the Sox and D-Backs. He gave up three runs in as many innings. The Manhattan College product pitched in 40 games in the minors, all but one of which came at the Triple-A level. He allowed 5.48 earned runs per nine across 42 2/3 innings. Jacques struck out 20.7% of batters faced while issuing walks at a slightly elevated 10.6% clip.

Like a lot of lefty relievers, Jacques relies on a sinker-slider/sweeper combination. He doesn’t throw hard, sitting in the 90-91 MPH range with his fastball. That limits the swing-and-miss upside, but he has done an excellent job keeping the ball on the ground. Jacques induced grounders at a 60.4% clip en route to a 2.54 ERA in Triple-A in 2023. He has a similarly impressive 61.9% ground-ball percentage in his MLB career. He’ll vie for a situational role in Spring Training. Anthony Banda, Alex Vesia, Zach Logue and youngster Justin Wrobleski are the only left-handers on L.A.’s 40-man roster.

Diamondbacks Sign Aramis Garcia To Minor League Deal

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The D-Backs signed catcher Aramis Garcia and shortstop Connor Kaiser to minor league contracts. Both players will get invites to big league camp. The deals were announced by Arizona’s Triple-A club in Reno.

Garcia, 32 in January, has more big league experience of that duo. The righty-hitting catcher has appeared in parts of five MLB seasons, logging 119 games between four teams. That included three games and seven hitless at-bats with the Phillies this year. Garcia isn’t much of an offensive threat. He’s a career .211/.248/.325 hitter with a 35.8% strikeout rate across 327 plate appearances. He had an even poorer showing in the minors this past season, hitting .159/.216/.279 while punching out nearly 36% of the time in 76 Triple-A games.

Teams are always on the hunt for catching depth, so the Snakes will send Garcia to Reno to begin next season. Statcast hasn’t graded him favorably for his blocking skills but credits him with a plus arm. Garcia did a nice job controlling the run game in Triple-A this year. He cut down more than 32% of attempted basestealers over 584 innings behind the plate.

Kaiser, who turns 28 next week, is a glove-first infielder. A former third-round pick of the Pirates, he got into three big league games with the Rockies in 2023. That’s the extent of his MLB work. Colorado outrighted Kaiser off their 40-man roster midway through that season. He spent this year with the Rox’s top farm team in Albuquerque. Despite playing in an extreme hitter’s park, the Vanderbilt product put up a .221/.343/.339 line through 347 plate appearances. Kaiser took his share of walks but stuck out at a near-32% clip. He’s also likely to begin next season in Reno, potentially in a utility capacity.

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